By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Editor
A small black tent with an air rowing machine and a couple of students sitting behind a table is a common sight for Baylor students walking through Fountain Mall.
Some choose to look down at their phone, while some put in an AirPod to avoid an extra interaction while walking between classes.
“It’s hard to recruit people, and it’s even harder to get them to keep showing up,” Stewart said.
For those that choose to walk up to that tent, the interaction could lead to a defining aspect of their college experience.
“It played a very important role in deciding where I attended grad school,” said Denton graduate student and head coach Max Stewart. “It was one of the big reasons I wanted to stay at Baylor and continue helping with the team.”
Stewart initially considered Baylor to run on the track and field team. While realizing he did not quite stack up to the times of Baylor’s nationally-recognized runners, Stewart found rowing as a good substitute for his running cardio.
He was hooked immediately. He competed with Baylor Crew throughout undergrad and eventually worked his way to being the club’s head coach while working toward his master’s degree.
Despite the rowers that return each semester praise rowing, it is a grind. One of the primary reasons that people are reluctant to join is the early wake up call for practice.
“Practices are 5 to 7 a.m., five days a week,” Stewart said. “We’re in our distance season, our 5K season. So, [it’s] getting your lungs used to being uncomfortable and really stretching our legs for longer races and getting comfortable for long durations of rowing.”
That grind is what creates the strong connections between Baylor Crew’s members. Their commitment also elevates the competitive spirit.
“You generally form bonds with the people there because you are up so early and because of the work you put in,” Bryden said. “We will suffer together, but we will win together. And that’s what we really want as a competitive team.”
Those relationships do not only hold weight on the water. They leave notable impacts on the rowers’ lives.
“I was going through a rough time,” Newport Beach, California, senior Colin Bryden said. “I just moved out to Texas … I had family stuff going on and everybody was so supportive. They were all kind. It wasn’t fake.”
Baylor Crew also competes with a chip on its shoulder. The club vies to compete at a high level despite working with fewer resources than some of the teams it faces off against.
“We’re competing against teams with paid coaches, million dollars a year in funding, paid boatman to come fix their boat house and maintain it,” Bryden said. “We have to do all that ourselves. So when we put our boats on the trailer ourselves, we drive it out to the race ourselves, we unload everything ourselves.”
The success of the club depends on the dedication of its returning rowers. As some of them move into leadership or coaching positions, they are tasked with leading a team filled with new members.
“90, 95% of people on our team had never rowed before,” Stewart said. “We’re constantly teaching them and it’s all like, ‘Hey, we’re all figuring this out together … You just stick it out for a few weeks, you know, you’re going to learn a ton.”
The club also struggles to keep a consistent number between seasons. Some are not able to keep up with Baylor Crew’s rigorous practice schedule with their classes, and it sometimes boils down to their desire to compete.
“It varies so much semester to semester,” Stewart said. “The fall of my junior year, we had 73 people on our roster … We’re now sitting at around 25 to 30.”
The club is still accepting to both those that want to compete and those who are still on the fence about whether they want to commit. It does not cut anyone who is interested in rowing.
“The people who want to be competitive and the people who want to row, we will absolutely have a boat for you,” Bryden said. “If you don’t know if you want to be competitive, if you don’t know if you want to row and you’re figuring it out, we have a boat for you, too.”
Baylor Crew is set to compete in three or four events in the fall, but the spring is their primary semester with the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) National Regatta.
